


When you Left

by Dewsparkle



Series: Little Stories of the Avenging Kind [12]
Category: Avengers (Marvel Movies), captain america: civil war - Fandom
Genre: Civil War Team Iron Man, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Post Captain America Civil War, Rhodey Is a Good Bro, Rhodey will protect him, Suicide Attempt, Team Tony Stark, Tony Stark Deserves Better, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-19
Updated: 2017-09-19
Packaged: 2018-12-31 15:16:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12135246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dewsparkle/pseuds/Dewsparkle
Summary: Rhodey remembers that day, so many years ago. He doesn't know if this is worse, and he's not sure he really wants to know anymore. All he knows is that Tony needs him and he won't leave. Not this time, he won't relive that day ever again. He won't relive that day and find that he was too late.The rage burns white-hot, but he'll push it aside because Tony is the one who needs him right now. Rhodey may not be able to walk, he might not ever be able to pilot the War Machine armour ever again, but Rhodey will be there and protect Tony from the world so he’ll never have to relive that day again.





	When you Left

**Author's Note:**

> I don't really know where this came from, but I was tired and instead of sleeping went "Oh! What if I wrote this thing?!" then wrote it. Sooo.... hopes it's okay?

The day Rhodey left for the military was the worst day of Tony’s life. At the time, Rhodey didn’t know how much his best friend had hated that he was leaving. Sure, Tony had been upset but… Rhodey had never thought he’d been so _devastated_.

As Rhodey sits by Tony’s bedside, his friend pale and gaunt under the crisp hospital sheets, he can’t help but remember that day. Can’t help but compare the dark bruises under his eyes from lack of sleep, the pale skin, the way his breathing rattled through his chest which they were still working to fix after Rogers crushed it with the shield.

That day, so many years ago now, Tony had cried, had hugged him and begged him not to go. It had been so soon after his parents’ deaths, only about six months, but Rhodey had gotten accepted into the program and all his hard work had paid off. He’d hugged the younger man and promised he’d keep in contact and visit as much as he was able to while in training. They’d both graduated MIT, Tony seventeen and Rhodey twenty at the time.

Tony had seemed to close off a little when he realised that there was nothing he could do to convince Rhodey to stay, and Rhodey still thinks that Tony hadn’t wanted to try and stop his friend from doing what he most wanted to do.

Later Rhodey would learn that less than two weeks after he’d left, Jarvis had a heart attack and died before the paramedics could arrive. Tony had been there, had witness the last family he had leave him.

Two days later the funeral was held, but Rhodey didn’t know about it because the military had blocked the invitation- he wasn’t family and they hadn’t considered the old butler close enough to give him a leave of absence so early into his training.

Then he got a call.

His CO had rushed him into a private room and explained that Tony Stark was trying to call him and from what they could make out of what he was saying, he wanted to talk to Rhodey but they couldn’t get much else out of him, but were concerned because he sounded distressed. So Rhodey had taken the phone.

_He could hear heavy breathing and desperate sobs on the other end of the phone line and instantly Rhodey was worried. “Tony? Tones, you there?”_

_“Rhodey…” Came the gasped reply, agonized and pained. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. He’s gone, everyone’s gone.” He broke off into unintelligible mumbles, still crying with hitched breath._

_“Tony? What’s wrong who’s gone?”_

_“Mom, dad, Jarvis, you. You all left. You’re all gone and it’s my fault, its all my fault. I’m sorry I’m such a fuck up, you shouldn’t have had to put up with me.”_

_“Tony, what-“_

_“Don’t, don’t w-worry though. I… I’m glad I got to be your friend for a little while, even if it was fake. Even though I fucked it up like everything else in my life. I don’t want you gone forever too.” He broke off into more gasping sobs, voice quivering._

_“Tony, no, what are you talking about? I am your friend, and you haven’t done anything.” But it was like Tony hadn’t heard him speak at all._

_“Don’t worry though, I won’t let you die because of me too. You- you see, I’m the common factor, simple to figure out really. Everyone I love dies because of me so, so, I don’t want you to be next and-“ He broke of, gasping for air. “And so this is me saying goodbye.”_

_Rhodey’s eyes widened. “Tony no, wait-!” but the line went dead._

_Rhodey bolted up and made for the door with a quick explanation to his CO and left before he could get a reply. Rhodey wasn’t sure how long it took him to reach Tony’s house, or how many red lights he ran or speed limits he broke to get there, but get there he did. He banged on the door loudly, calling Tony’s name before simply kicking the door in._

_He found Tony in the room Rhodey had used when he lived with Tony for a time._

_There was so much blood._

_Tony was still sitting up, shaking hands trying to slice another line into his skin, face wet and red, eyes swollen from tears._

_“Tony!” Rhodey ran forward and snatched the knife from Tony’s hand. The younger man screamed, chasing after it when Rhodey threw it aside. He grabbed Tony’s arms, trying to hold him down as Tony struggled madly, crying and not seeming to realise just who was with him._

_He pulled Tony forward into his arms and forcibly held him there, ignoring the bloodied fists pounding on anything they could reach to try and get away._

_“No! Let me go, let me go!” Tony screamed, still writhing in Rhodey’s arms. It broke Rhodey’s heart to see his friend so desperate and broken._

_“Shh, shh, Tony, it’s me, it’s just me. It’s Rhodey. Calm down, I got you, I got you.” He soothed, rubbing his hand through Tony’s hair which obviously had not been washed in a while. But finally, he seemed to have gotten through to his friend because suddenly he stopped struggling, which was good because he was still bleeding a concerning amount from his wrist, but thankfully Tony had missed the artery and cut along his wrist instead of up his arm._

_“Rh-Rhodey?” He looked up and him with big eyes filled with tears. “You came back?” His voice is so small and lost that Rhodey just pulls him close, feeling Tony’s fists shakily grip the front of hi shirt tightly._

_He nods, rocking them back and forth on the floor. “Yeah, I’m here, it’s alright. Not going anywhere, okay?”_

_Tony shakes his head, another sob escaping him. “No, no, I don’t want to hurt you too. I can’t lose you forever too. I can’t, I can’t, not again, please, please stay don’t go.”_

_“You haven’t hurt anyone, it’s not your fault. Whatever it is, it’s not your fault.”_

_He’s shaking his head again. “But-“_

_“No buts.” Rhodey says sternly, causing Tony to curl into his chest further and fall silent, quietly crying against him. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself like this again, you got it? You mean so much to me, Tony, and if anything ever happened to you I fight for as long as it took to bring you back, no matter what, okay?”_

_When Tony doesn’t answer, Rhodey gives him a little shake. “Alright? No more hurting yourself, you hear? No more.”_

_Then Tony starts crying in earnest, frantically chanting apologies and begging Rhodey to forgive him and not hate him forever, promising not to do it again. Rhodey just pulls him close and holds him, quietly calling his CO and asking him to send a paramedic._

Rhodey thinks back to that day and tries to forget again, because finding your best friend attempting to end his life had been the worst experience of Rhodey’s life, it even ranked above losing his legs to paralysis.

But now, looking at his friend and wondering if he’ll ever recover, Rhodey wonders if this could be worse. He doesn’t think it is, because the horror of that day will forever haunt him, make him sometimes watch Tony very closely when he’d holding a knife of any kind. But all the same, he feels a white hot rage at Rogers for doing this to Tony, for betraying him like that after all Tony had done for him and the so-called Avengers.

Rhodey decides he doesn’t want to know if this is worse. It’s bad, it’s terrible, and it makes him want to hurt Rogers like he hurt Tony tenfold. But Tony needs Rhodey right now, because Rhodey knows Tony is going to come back from this. It’ll be hard, so very hard, but he still has Rhodey.

Rhodey may not be able to walk, he might not ever be able to pilot the War Machine armour ever again, but Rhodey will be there and protect Tony from the world so he’ll never have to relive that day again.

So he’ll never find out if Tony learnt from his mistakes the first attempt. So he won’t have to find his best friends corpse.

Tony will wake up and know that Rhodey hasn’t left, not this time, and not ever again. And Rhodey will make sure he never has to come back to that day ever again either.


End file.
